THIS IS IMPORTANT! Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of your air fryer basket before you cook the bacon. This will prevent the rendered bacon fat from creating smoke. As long as they don't overlap in the air fryer basket, you may be able to cook more than 4 strips of bacon at a time.
The bottom line
What is this? It's important to note that you should never fill the air fryer with water or any other liquid. Doing so could cause serious damage to your appliance and even be a fire hazard. Additionally, adding too much water could also lead to soggy food that won't crisp up properly in the air fryer.
Step 1Lay bacon inside air fryer basket in a single layer. Step 2Set air fryer to 400° and cook until crispy, about 10 minutes. (You can check halfway through and rearrange slices with tongs.)
The addition of water keeps the initial cooking temperature low and gentle, so the meat retains its moisture and stays tender as the fat renders. Plus, since the water helps render the fat, there will be significantly less splatter as your bacon finishes in the pan.
If your air fryer tray or basket is not non-stick you may need a spray of oil before you place the bacon down. Do not overcrowd the air fryer tray as the bacon will not cook evenly. Cook in multiple batches if more needed.
Yes! Aluminum foil can be used in the air fryer. Sometimes I like to line the outer basket in foil to catch the drippings.
Is it healthier to cook bacon in the air fryer? Since food is suspended in the air fryer basket, most of the excess fat from the bacon will be rendered off during cooking. This makes air-fried bacon significantly healthier than bacon cooked in the oven or on the stovetop, because it isn't cooking in its own grease.
400 degrees fahrenheit works well for both regular and thick cut bacon. Heat your oven and cook the bacon for 10 to 20 minutes or until it's reached your desired level of crispiness. I do rotate the pan halfway through, just to ensure even cooking, but that's it.
The fat drips down in the bottom of the tray so your bacon isn't fat-logged, just perfectly cooked.
An air fryer is simply a small oven that runs on convection heat. The heat is circulated around a tight space by a powerful fan that lies just below or behind the heating element. Just as in a standard oven, it is perfectly safe to use aluminum foil in the air fryer.
Lining your air fryer with parchment paper is the best way to keep your appliance clean and your food delicious. Nothing beats cooking with an air fryer to get you crispy, tender food with a fraction of the oil.
What happens if you add water to an air fryer? Overall, adding a little bit of water can help to hydrate the food in your air fryer and prevent it from becoming too dry. It adds moisture into the atmosphere of your air fryer and it's a great way to refresh any baked items you might want to cook in your air fryer.
The simple answer is yes, you can put water in your air fryer. If you know that the foods you are cooking are going to drip fat down into the pan below, you can put water into the base.
Process: Add bacon to nonstick pan then add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook the bacon over medium-high until the water completely evaporated, then reduce heat to medium until the bacon was crispy.
Rinsing with cold water removes a little bit of the fat from the bacon, which can help reduce shrinkage. However, Life Hacker notes that the cold-water-rinse is less important than baking it in the oven and that rinsing bacon can often lead to lessening its flavor.
Once the meat is cool to the touch, place it in an airtight bag. Remove as much air as possible before sealing the bag and placing it in the refrigerator. By following this method, your bacon should stay fresh for up to five days.
Bacon is safe to cook in the air fryer, but you need to make sure that you use the proper temperature and that your air fryer is clean before you begin. The best bacon air fryer temperature is 350 degrees F. This will crisp the bacon without causing it to smoke or burn.
Crowding the Pan
As with other meats, allow some room between strips, about an inch, when placing bacon in the pan. Crowding creates steam and prevents the bacon from cooking evenly, giving you limp bacon instead of crispy strips. Cook in batches if needed.
Do you need oil for cooking bacon on the stove? No, you don't. Your bacon might stick to the pan initially, but it's quite a fatty cut of meat and will release its own juice to cook in pretty quickly.
Which is better between air frying vs. oven baking? Air-frying is a healthier alternative to deep-fried foods, but oven-baking often preserves good nutrients while filtering out the bad ones, making oven-baked foods even healthier than most air-fried foods.